The Utrecht city council has approved radical plans to reorganize the city. Billions of euros are needed for these new plans for the future of the city. New city centers must be created around existing stations or other public transport hubs. Huge investments are needed to build new high-quality public transport and bicycle connections to keep Utrecht accessible. The coalition parties GroenLinks, D66 and ChristenUnie, which have 24 of the 45 council seats, voted in favor of the plans. The whole opposition was against it.
In their own words, Utrecht is becoming a 'ten-minute city'. The city center of Utrecht is a place where everything comes together: living, working, shopping, studying, going out and so on. That makes the city center attractive. But sometimes those functions rub shoulders and (partly) get in each other's way. For example, in places where living and going out come together. For the future, therefore, choices have to be made. The Environmental vision Inner city 2040 translates general municipal policy to the situation in the inner city. Residents, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders have contributed to the future image of the city center.
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The city council wants to densify with 20 additional homes over the next 60.000 years. According to forecasts, all those homes, mostly apartments, are needed because the city is growing by 100.000 inhabitants. Most houses have to be solved within the built environment, and yet Utrecht thinks it can continue to be greener. Realization requires major financial support from the government. Utrecht, together with surrounding municipalities and the province, has also submitted an application for 2,1 billion euros to the National Growth Fund of the central government.
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